After a battle with Austrian authorities, Niko Alm won the right to wear a colander on his head in his driver's license photo. As a Pastafarian, he argued that the holey hat was "religious headgear," and it is now officially recognized as such.

This triumph comes after Alm's initial request three years ago to be pictured with the sacred pasta strainer prompted officials to require a doctor's note confirming that he was "psychologically fit" to operate a motor vehicle.

He is now moving to get Pastafarianism listed as an officially recognized faith in his homeland.

For those unfamiliar, Pastafarianism is areligion (well ok, a parody of religion) based on the worshipof the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a mystical, pasta-tentacled being madeof spaghetti and meatballs. It was founded as satirical protest againstthe Kansas Board of Education's decision to allow intelligent design tobe taught in schools. The original Pastafarian, Bobby Henderson, demanded theteachings of the Gospel of the FSM be given equal play in classrooms.